


On His Shoulders

by Osaka_Prince_Yuta



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Protectiveness, Sick Character, Sick Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26623897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osaka_Prince_Yuta/pseuds/Osaka_Prince_Yuta
Summary: When the older and parental members leave town, they Jaehyun in charge of the Dream members, a task Jaehyun himself thought he could handle. At least until Haechan comes down with a sudden and mysterious sickness and Jaehyun has to make the hard decisions while taking care of the other Dream members.ORJaehyun becomes Dream's dad.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 137





	On His Shoulders

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a lot of time stressing over this and almost deleted and re-wrote it 3 times, but I didn't so I really hope this isn't garbage haha. 
> 
> Tell me what you think!~ I

Jaehyun never liked airports. The bustling of the crowds, the screaming fans that had somehow gotten to security, the slow pace the elderly walked and the running of people hurrying for a flight they were probably going to miss anyways. He flew often enough that he was used to the chaos, but then again, he always had members, older and younger, that would look after him, or that he looked after. Today, he felt sorry for the members navigating the airport alone. 

“So Johnny texted me, he finally landed in Chicago,” Taeyong said as he helped grab bags out of the van. 

“That’s good,” Jaehyun mumbled, also grabbing a few bags out and attempting the slap the leaders' hands away from the heavier ones. 

“And Doyoung should be landing in a few hours,” Taeyong continued. 

Jaehyun sighed as he placed the last bag onto the sidewalk. 

“And I am to call him as soon as he lands to give him the information to the hotel,” Jaehyun continued for Taeyong. 

They’d been over this a hundred times within the past week. 

“And don’t forget! You know by the time he lands, he’ll have forgotten!”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes and closed the van door. 

“Taeil will text when he gets home too,” Taeyong added. 

“Yongie, calm down, I think by now he knows the drill,” Yuta interjected, wrapping an arm around Taeyong’s waist, squeezing lightly which seemed to calm Taeyong a little. 

“This is just the first time with everyone gone…” Taeyong mumbled. 

“We’ll be ok hyung. You and Mark will have a great time in America with Ten, Lucas, Kai, Taemin, and Baekhyun. Relax. Make good music. And don’t worry. I can handle the young ones for a few weeks,” Jaehyun stated, attempting to calm his leader's nerves more. 

With a SuperM comeback right around the corner, NCT 127’s managers had decided to put all of them on a hiatus to rest, so several of the members had taken the chance to go visit home, or in Doyoung’s case, go on vacation. Yuta had decided to go with SuperM to support his boyfriend and favorite younger member, which meant Jaehyun, who wasn’t returning home, had been appointed as the caretaker of the younger members, many of which still had schedules. Namely, the Dream members.

He wasn’t really concerned about it. It should be a cakewalk. After all, Taeyong was able to take care of everyone  _ and _ exist in three different units, while U was active at least. 

“Don’t forget that Jaemin and Jeno like to stay up at all hours of the night to play video games! Don’t let them stay up too late!” Taeyong spoke. 

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. Most of the Dream members were already classified adults, and the one that wasn’t had five other adults to take care of him. However, Jaehyun did know that those two particularly liked to play games at all hours of the night, so maybe it was worth warning them not to. 

“Yeah, yeah, tuck the Dreamies in, don’t feed Jungwoo after 9, make sure Jaemin and Jeno go to bed at a decent hour,” he mumbled. 

“And don’t forget Donghyuck! He was a little warm this morning. Don’t let him practice if he doesn’t feel good!” Taeyong added. 

Jaehyun groaned. Donghyuck was a trooper. He’d never seen the male sick. Nothing could wear him down, he didn’t know why Taeyong was so concerned about it. A small fever would not keep the tornado that was Donghyuck calm. 

“Taeyong hyung, we’re going to miss our flight if you keep giving instructions,” Mark’s voice spoke up. “The others are already waiting on us.” 

The reminder seemed to kick Taeyong into gear. He snatched up his bags and barreled towards the sliding glass doors of the airport. Jaehyun climbed into the passenger seat of the van and the manager waited until they were certain the others hadn’t forgotten anything before driving off. 

“Now are you sure you don’t want me to call back Dream’s managers to help out?” the manager asked. 

He was the main manager. A supervisor of sorts to the others. He’d be dealing with the schedules and getting the Dream members from place to place as he’d allowed the three Dream managers to take time off. One’s wife had just had a baby and he wanted to spend time with her, another had been asking for vacation time and decided to take his family to Jeju Island, and the last scheduled a surgery for the weeks vacation he’d have. They all had plans. They deserved to be able to do what they had planned. 

“No no, it’s alright. I can handle it,” Jaehyun said. 

How hard could it be? The 127 members were on a hiatus, meaning he could do what he wanted. And the Dream members relatively knew how to take care of themselves. He’d invite them up for dinner every night, and then he’d sit around and do his own thing. 

Turns out, things weren’t going to be so easy.

~

Everything was going smoothly. Taeyong had been gone for a little over three days and no one had killed each other. The Dream members only had schedules in the afternoon and mostly revolved around dance practices and vlives or recordings they could do from their dorm. Things were relatively simple for them, which made things simple for Jaehyun. 

He and Jungwoo spent their days lazing around watching movies together or participating in random activities. The Dream members were usually home around eight every day and Jaehyun would always have pizza or some other form of takeout waiting for them in the 127 dorm where they would come after taking showers. They’d sit and watch television or simply talk about anything and everything until Jaehyun would eventually say something about it being late, sending them all to bed. He never bothered to check up on them. They were all responsible enough to know that playing video games all night was not the way to go. 

Everything was working out fine. At least as far as Jaehyun could tell. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for Donghyuck walking in looking more tired than usual. Jaehyun chopped it up to just an extra grueling dance practice. The other Dream members seemed tired too, so that night, as he served another day of pizza, he didn’t bother asking about it, even when Donghyuck didn’t come down for dinner. 

That was probably his first big mistake. 

The next morning, he woke up to a loud beating at the dorm door. He’d rolled over with a groan and cursed whoever was beating loud enough to wake him up. He was on vacation for all practical purposes. There should be no reason anyone was waking him up before noon at least. But the knocking didn’t subside, even as his phone began ringing loud next to his ear. 

“Answer the phone hyung,” Jungwoo’s weak voice called sleepily from the bed across the room. 

Jaehyun groaned unhappily and answered the call with a raspy “hello.” 

“Hyung! We’ve been trying to call for the past hour! Where is Donghyuck-ah! He didn’t get up this morning and he missed the radio show this morning!” Jaemin’s voice shrilled in his ear. 

Jaehyun groaned. He had forgotten that Taeyong had reminded him to wake Donghyuck up in the mornings because he’d likely forget to set an alarm. 

Slowly, he climbed out of bed, silently cursing the 127 maknae for bringing this torture on him. Ten am was way too early for him to be stirring around on his week off. 

He hung up the phone with Jaemin and walked into the front hallway first to open the door. Standing there was a fumingly angry Jaemin, a very stressed looking Jeno, a worried Renjun, and Chenle and Jisung who appeared to both be as sleepy as Jaehyun. 

“About damn time,” Jaemin mumbled, pushing his way into the dorm and walking down the hallway, presumably to wake Donghyuck up for the scolding of a lifetime. 

Jaehyun just rolled his eyes as Jeno and Renjun followed Jaemin as the two youngest plopped down on the couch. 

“Why do you two look sleepier than normal?” Jaehyun asked. 

He didn’t really care, they could do what they wanted, but Taeyong would kill him if he didn’t scold them for staying up too late. 

“We stayed up too late talking,” Chenle admitted. 

Jaehyun tutted. 

“So tonight get some actual rest,” Jaehyun spoke. 

He didn’t bother scolding them too much. He was sure they had learned their lesson.

Chenle moved across the couch and laid his head on Jisung’s shoulder, a sight Jaehyun found incredibly cute as he poured a few scoops of coffee grounds into the coffee maker. He could already tell this was going to be a long day. 

“DONGHYUCK!” Jaehyun heard Jaemin scream from down the hall before the sound of a loud slap resonated through the air followed by a pair of feet hurriedly moving toward the living room. 

“What the hell?!” Jaehyun yelled out. 

Jaemin was a lot of things when he was angry, but violent was not one of them. Hearing the slap sent a wave of panic down Jaehyun’s spine. 

“Hyung!” Jeno’s voice called out loudly. 

Jaehyun’s eyes widened as he moved out of the kitchen to see Jeno properly. The boy was standing at the edge of the hallway, panic and hysteria written all over his face, his eyes full of pleas that Jaehyun didn’t know how to fulfil. 

“Donghyuck… he’s not waking up!” Jeno yelled hysterically. 

Jaehyun stared at Jeno for a moment. That didn’t make any sense. Donghyuck wasn’t a light sleeper. He woke up when his alarm first went off every morning. He usually woke up when someone was sick in the bathroom during that time of year. He woke up at every little creak in the floors it seemed, which had become quite problematic and part of the reason he no longer slept in Jaehyun’s room. 

“Are you sure?” he asked the younger male dumbfoundedly. 

Jeno gave him another look of hysteria. 

“Jaemin slapped him and he’s still not waking up!” Jeno yelled, voice louder than it had been previously. 

So yes. This was an issue. A big issue. And all Jaehyun could do was stand dumbfoundedly in the doorway of the kitchen and wish like hell that Taeyong was there to take care of things. 

~

When Jaehyun was finally able to move again, only after receiving a well deserved, but harsh slap to the back of the head by Renjun, who looked more and more like a tiny angry ogre than a boy, he made his way into Donghyuck’s room and upon further inspection, found that not only was Donghyuck not waking, but also had a fever high enough it was uncomfortable to touch him. 

One ambulance ride later, they’d found themselves in this situation, sitting in a hospital room waiting for the doctors to finish running tests on Donghyuck while the Dream members impatiently moved about the room, making Jaehyun more anxious than he already was. 

How did “everything will be fine” turn into this?

“Are you going to call Taeyong hyung?” Jaemin asked, breaking the silence. 

His question seemed to peak the interest of the other Dream members all floating around the room. 

“I… uh… He’s probably busy…”

In all honesty, Jaehyun didn’t want to call Taeyong, because that would mean he’d let the leader down. He had promised Taeyong before Taeyong’s flight that everything would be fine and he knew how to handle any situation that could go wrong. But this… This wasn’t in the manual. He had no idea how to handle this situation, but he knew that if he called Taeyong, or even Johnny, they would rush back here to take care of Donghyuck and then never trust Jaehyun with them again. 

“Hyung! You have to call Taeyong hyung!” Jaemin said, voice getting slightly louder and more urgent. 

“We can handle this situation!” Jaehyun responded, attempting to soothe the male although Jaemin would have none of it. 

“YOU CALL TAEYONG HYUNG RIGHT NOW OR I WILL!” he screamed. 

This caught the attention to the other people in the waiting room and the lady at the nurses station who shot Jaehyun a glare. 

“Fine fine! I’ll call him! Stop yelling!”

Jaemin seemed appeased by the answer and leaned back in his seat, but his eyes remained fixed on Jaehyun as if daring him not to call Taeyong. When did that kid become so scary?

Jaehyun let out a sigh and stood up from his seat, pulling his phone free from his pocket as he did so. He walked out of the waiting room and toward the coffee station set up on the other side of the hall. The last thing he needed was for the Dreamies to start yelling and make Taeyong panic. 

He leaned against the wall and opened his phone, his heart thumping in his chest. Taeyong would freak out and then he’d get extremely disappointed because this was Jaehyun’s responsibility to handle. He scrolled through the names slowly, drawing time out for as long as he could until Taeyong’s name appeared on the screen. 

Jaehyun stared at the screen for a moment before pressing the name and bringing the phone to his ear. 

It rang a few times before the tired panting of his leader answered, making Jaehyun’s heart drop into his stomach like a stone. 

“What’s wrong Jae?”

“I… Um… hi Hyung…” Jaehyun mumbled, probably sounding a whole lot smaller than he actually was. 

“Jae?” Taeyong asked, concern filling his voice. 

Jaehyun leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He refused to cry, even though he was terrified of disappointing the male who’d left him in charge for a few days. 

“Donghyuck’s sick…” Jaehyun finally managed to splutter. 

A sigh left Taeyong’s mouth. 

“Give him some soup and put him to bed. Don’t let him practice anymore this week, at least until he’s feeling better. Does he have a fever?”

“No hyung… he’s in the hospital....”

Silence filled the speaker and, for a moment, Jaehyun thought Taeyong might have hung up or more likely fainted. 

“W-why? What happened?” Taeyong asked after a long pause. 

“We don’t know yet. He overslept and I didn’t realize. When the Dreamies came to get him, he wouldn’t wake up. As far as I know, he still hasn’t and he had a high fever,” Jaehyun explained. 

In hindsight, explaining everything to Taeyong sounded… really bad. He winced at his own words. Taeyong would have noticed earlier, or at the very least, been up early enough to figure out Donghyuck was unwell instead of the Dream members having to find out. They all must be so scared… And here he was, standing so far away from the waiting room he couldn’t see them, on the phone with Taeyong when they were thinking God knows what. He was such a bad hyung!

“Jaehyun, are you still there?” Taeyong’s voice broke through his thoughts. 

“Huh? Yeah…”

“Ok, this is what I want you to do. First, take care of the Dream members. They will never tell you something’s bothering them unless you outright ask. Second, do not leave the hospital until you know what’s going on with Donghyuck, and when you do know, call me back. I’m going to get on a plane with Mark as soon as we can, but no promises when that will be. I’m going to call Johnny and get him on a plane as soon as possible but Jaehyun, you are the man in charge right now. Be in charge,” Taeyong spoke, voice firm but gentle at the same time. 

Jaehyun would never be as good as his leader. But he could still try and be there for the Dream members even if he was scared out of hit wits as well. 

~

After hanging up the call with Taeyong, Jaehyun stuffed his phone back in his pocket and briskly made the walk back to the waiting room. He had left the Dream members to make a phone call and now, there was truly no way of knowing if the younger boys were actually alright or if they’d been putting on a face until they were alone. 

As Jaehyun rounded the corner, it became obvious that the latter was correct. All five members were standing in an oddly shaped circle, arms wrapped around one another with sniffles leaving a few noses. Jaehyun hung his head. He should have been there to comfort them, not leaving them to comfort each other. 

“He’s going to be alright… We got him to the hospital… If anything, they’ll be able to give us some answers to help him,” Jaehyun spoke, albeit a bit awkwardly. 

He didn’t receive a response for several minutes, but when he did, it was Jeno’s head that popped up from the group, eyes rimmed in red. 

“How do you know he’s going to be ok?” he asked, letting out another sniffle. 

This was a question Jaehyun could answer. 

“Because this is Donghyuck we’re talking about. As stubborn as they come with a heart of gold and a smile that would make a queen hand over her country to him. Do you really think a sickness would stand a chance against all of that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, a forced half smile playing on his lips. 

This seemed to get a chuckle from Jeno’s lips and a small laugh from Chenle’s. 

Slowly but surely, the group let go of each other and they found themselves sitting close together along the back wall of the waiting room. Jaehyun threw his right arm over the back of the chair, welcoming a still sniffling Jaemin to snuggle into his side while a trembling Chenle found purchase on his lap. He wrapped his left arm around Chenle, keeping the male secure enough as the young one cuddled into his chest. Renjun sat on the other side of Jaemin, hand grabbing the youngers and lacing their fingers together. Jeno sat on the left side of Jaehyun, holding a slightly crying Jisung in his lap. 

“Whatever this sickness is that’s eating at Donghyuck-ah, we’ll help him get through it together. But you guys can’t shut off your emotions and not let me in. You’re nothing but a hindrance to yourselves if you shut me out and don’t talk about your emotions. So please, let’s talk openly,” Jaehyun said after a few moments had passed. 

Silence answered him, but he didn’t mind. He knew the younger boys were soaking in his words along with the facts they had received that day. It would take a while for everything to fully sink in. 

~

“Lee Donghyuck?” 

It was well after dark when a doctor appeared in the waiting room with information. Her words startled Jaehyun awake. Carefully, he lifted Chenle off his lap, being gentle not to cause him to stir as he placed the boy down in the seat Jaehyun had just been occupying. Chenle stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up, instead leaning closer to Jaemin, laying his head on the elder boy's shoulder. Jaehyun smiled softly to himself before quietly walking up to the front of the waiting room where the doctor was patiently waiting. 

“Are you here for Lee Donghyuck?” she asked. 

She was wearing a long white coat with light purple scrubs and white crocks. She carried a thick clipboard in her hand, lightly charting all of the tests they’d run on Donghyuck. Her stature was short, coming up onto to Jaehyun’s shoulder, but her sharp jaw and sternly drawn face made her seem far more intimidating most other women Jaehyun had ever met. 

“I am,” Jaehyun whispered. 

She nodded and pulled the clipboard up into his view, thumbing through the first few pages before reading something off the clipboard. 

“We have run several tests on Donghyuck, including an MRI, a CT Scan, and we’ve run his blood through many tests…”

Jaehyun nodded, humming along. He was sensing a but coming. 

“It would appear that Lee Donghyuck has a severe case of pneumonia… But we have been unable to determine why. Could you shed some light onto this prospect?”

Jaehyun raised an eyebrow. Pneumonia? But how was that even possible? It hadn’t been cold! He hadn’t gone to bed wet as far as Jaehyun knew… so what in the world-

“We’ve also ordered a chest x-ray. It should show us where this came from. In the meantime, we’re going to give him an intense round of antibiotics to try and ward off the pneumonia. If it proves to be effective, he will hopefully be awake tomorrow,” the doctor answered, taking Jaehyun’s silence for an answer. 

Jaehyun nodded lamely, confusion and concern still gripping at him as his eyes shifted to the walls behind the doctor’s head, looking for something solid to ground him. 

“What if he doesn’t wake up tomorrow?” he answered after a long moment of silence. 

The doctor gave a small sigh. 

“When he got to the hospital, his fever had spiked to 40 degrees (105F). With temperatures that high, it begins affecting the brain. It took us a while to get his fever back down with a round of cool fluids, but we have no way of knowing how long his fever was that high so…” she trailed off, a flash of worry in her eyes. “If he doesn’t wake up in the next 24 hours… he may never wake up.”

And with that one statement, Jaehyun felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath his feet. May never wake up? Lee Donghyuck… baby of 127… may never wake up because of his own negligence… He really had let Taeyong down. 

“Sir? Are you ok?” the doctor asked, placing a hand on Jaehyun’s arm. 

The touch grounded Jaehyun enough to come back out of his head. 

“Yeah… I’m fine…”

The doctor gave him a sorrowful smile. 

“We’ll do everything in our power for him,” she said softly. 

Jaehyun nodded and with that, the doctor moved away, back to go help Jaehyun’s little brother or some other patient that wasn’t nearly as important as the boy Jaehyun loved so dearly. 

As she left, Jaehyun turned back to look at the sleeping Dream members. Jisung was slumped over on Jeno’s lap, legs tangling in the floor with Jeno’s, head resting on the elder male’s chest. On the other side, Renjun was slumped over, head resting against the wall, his legs curled up on the chair. Jaemin’s head was resting on Renjun’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around one of Renjun’s arm, the plastic armrest digging into Jaemin’s side. In the seat Jaehyun had been in, Chenle had curled himself up into a ball and had shifted around to lay his head on Jeno’s shoulder. Jaehyun smiled. For this moment at least, the members were getting some much needed rest, but he knew the second they woke up and he told them the news, there would likely be no more restful sleeps. 

He couldn’t wake them. Not when it had been a struggle to get them to sleep. Besides, before he was tasked with comforting them, he needed someone to comfort him. 

Making up his mind, he made his way from the waiting room, back to the coffee bar he’d been at earlier. He grabbed a styrofoam cup off the top and placed it on the table before grabbing the half-filled coffee pot. He poured the bitter black liquid into the cup and placed it back. He didn’t bother with creamers or sweeteners. The bitterness would keep him awake as much as the caffeine would. 

Beside the simple coffee bar table were two chairs, almost as though the hospital knew guests who’d received bad news would sit there for a few moments of peace. 

Jaehyun pulled his phone out of his pocket and sat down in the chair, a small yawn leaving his lips. 

_ 2:34am. _

He unlocked his phone and, quicker this time, pressed the button to dial the member before pressing his phone to his ear. 

“What’d the doctor say?” Taeyong’s voice asked through the speaker. 

He sounded breathless and Jaehyun almost felt bad for calling him. 

“He has pneumonia… No one knows how he got it or why it hit so hard…” Jaehyun answered. 

There was a rustling sound over the call before he heard Mark’s muffled voice. Jaehyun’s stomach dropped. He’d forgotten about Mark… How was the male feeling about his best friend?

“That doesn’t sound too serious. Serious enough but he’s young. Is he awake?”

Jaehyun paused, hands started to shake. He brought the coffee to his lips, taking a large gulp to let the hot liquid burn down his throat. 

“The doctor said…” Jaehyun had to pause again, this time to swallow the lump in his throat. “H-his fever was too high when they brought him in… They said… if he doesn’t wake up in… 24 hours… he… he may never…” Jaehyun trailed off as he sucked in an emotional breath, chest squeezing painfully as he struggled to hold the tears at bay. 

“Jaehyun what are you telling me?” Taeyong’s voice was stern. 

“He could die Taeyong…”

It was at that moment that tears began pouring from Jaehyun’s eyes, the male no longer able to hold them in. His chest seized painfully as his body shook, sobs retching from his throat in the most horrendous of sounds. 

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” he mumbled over and over again into the speaker as he curled in on himself. 

“Jae… it’s not your fault… This could have happened to anyone and has most likely been brewing for a while. Don’t beat yourself up. I’m sorry you have to deal with this when I should be…”

“No no, hyung I-”

“You are not a leader. You’re not an older member. You’re just barely not a baby. You’ve been put in charge of all of this while everyone is away but Jaehyun, you can’t beat yourself up over something you couldn’t have changed. Now, I will be there in 32 hours, Mark and I are at the airport right now. Johnny’s flight from Chicago left an hour ago and I’ve called Kun. He’ll be there around 7 in the morning.”

Jaehyun nodded although he knew his hyung couldn’t see him. 

“Jaehyun, the most important thing right now is that you tell the Dreamies. They need to hear it from the one who found out first. Wake them up and tell them. Then see if you all can go be there for Hyuckie. But Jaehyun, do NOT leave any of those members alone. If one has to go to the bathroom and they don’t use the one in the room, walk with them. Leave no one completely alone, do you hear me?”

“Yes hyung…” Jaehyun’s voice said weakly. 

“Good. Now I have to go, Mark has overheard pretty much this whole conversation and now he, Lucas, and Ten are out of sorts.”

“I love you hyung,” Jaehyun whimpered. 

“I love you too Jae. Just be strong for a little bit longer.”

The line went dead not long after that and Jaehyun sucked in a deep breath. He gulped down the rest of his coffee before tossing the cup in the trash. He made no move to wipe his tear stained face. They would likely just get teary again. 

He made his way back toward the waiting room where he could already see the sleeping members. Halfway there, he stopped by the nurses station. 

“I know visiting hours are over, but our brother is out and may not ever wake up again. Can my brother’s and I please go see him?”

The nurse sitting at the computer gave him a weary look before typing in the name into her computer. 

“Room I-209.”

Jaehyun gave her his best smile before walking into the waiting room and sighing. He knew what Taeyong had said, but he also knew that waking them would be one of the hardest things he’d have to do. 

With another breath, Jaehyun crouched down near all of the chairs and carefully shook Jaemin’s shoulder. The boy let out a whine before his eyes opened. 

“Hyung? What’s wrong?” he asked sleepily. 

~

The elevator ride up to Donghyuck’s room was long and slow, Jaehyun shifting from one foot to the other with his arms wrapped around both of the maknae’s. Chenle has his arms wrapped tightly around Jaehyun’s middle, staining his shirt with tears while Jisung had one arm wrapped around Jaehyun, pretending he was ok but leaning most of his wait onto his hyung. When the elevator doors finally opened in the ICU, Jeno stepped out first, taking charge to lead his grim-faced brothers down the long hallway and to the room that housed their Hyuckie. 

Renjun gently eased open the door and held it open for everyone to come through before closing it lightly. There wasn’t a sound in the room except the continuous beeping that told them Donghyuck was alive. 

Jaehyun watched as Donghyuck’s body came into view and the Dream members fell to pieces. Jaemin wrapped his arms tightly around Renjun, who clasped his arms around Jaemin’s waist and held the taller male as Jaemin sobbed. Jeno fell into the recliner beside Donghyuck’s bed and put his head in his hands. Chenle’s fingers tightly gripped Jaehyun’s shirt as his sobs became more audible. Jisung stopped pretending he was OK and sat down on the edge of Donghyuck’s bed to sob. A few more tears fell from Jaehyun’s eyes, but he steeled himself. The Dream members needed someone to be strong for them. He would be strong. 

Carefully, Jaehyun eased onto the other recliner on the other side of the bed and pulled both maknae’s into his lap. 

“He’s going to be ok,” he muttered, not sure if he really believed it. “He’s going to be ok…”

~

As promised, Kun was at the hospital the next morning with the rest of WayV who, apparently, refused to leave their family to grieve alone. When they’d first walked in to hospital door, Jaehyun thought it was quite a lot, however, Guanhang seemed to cheer the Dream members up a lot, getting them to let out a few laughs, even if they weren’t strong ones. Sicheng provided a bigger comfort for Renjun and Chenle. Dejun and YangYang provided comedy or a shoulder to cry on, which helped Jaehyun out, but he still couldn’t help fight the crippling burden he was wearing. But Kun really was a natural born leader, to everyone, not just WayV. 

He seemed to know exactly how Jaehyun was feeling and what the male needed. With a few words, he convinced everyone, WayV and Dream alike to leave the room and go downstairs to get lunch. The lot agreed and made their ways out in groups, leaving Kun and Jaehyun. 

“Taeyong told me how you were feeling,” Kun began. 

Jaehyun could only nod. 

“Leading is hard. You have to take responsibility to everyone. Not just yourself. You did a good job. There was nothing you could have done differently, which, I know, makes you feel worse, but you can’t beat yourself up. You did good, Jaehyun.”

Kun always knew just what to say. 

Jaehyun sprang up from where he’d been sitting on the chair and wrapped his arms around the Chinese male. Tears finally fell as he gripped the male’s shirt, squeezing him as tightly as possible. 

They stayed like that, locked in a strong hug before Jaehyun broke up to wipe his eyes. 

“I’m going to go make sure they don’t disturb the peace too much. Spend some time with Donghyuckie,” Kun said softly. 

He pat Jaehyun’s shoulder before walking out the door, leaving Jaehyun alone with his baby brother. 

When the room was clear, Jaehyun took his spot back in the recliner and smiled softly at Donghyuck. Donghyuck was laying in the bed, a cool rag on his forehead to keep his temperature down. He had a breathing tube under his nose and an IV in his arm, giving him nutrients. 

Jaehyun reached forward and took a hold of Donghyuck’s cool hand, holding it tightly in his own as a few more tears cascaded down his face. 

“I’m so sorry I let you down, Hyuckie… Please wake up… Wake up for us…” he whispered. 

He pressed his head to the mattress as he squeezed Donghyuck’s hand gently. 

“You didn’t let me down, hyung,” Donghyuck respond weakly.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading!


End file.
